British GP Williams qualifying notes

It was a trouble free start to the British Grand Prix weekend for the BMW WilliamsF1 Team with Ralf Schumacher 8th and Juan Pablo Montoya 17th.

Ralf Schumacher
"As we already knew from the test, Silverstone is a difficult track for us. We have a lack of grip and it is just that the combination of tyres and chassis that are not as compatible as at other circuits, but we will work hard to improve for tomorrow. Apart from that we had no technical problems."

Juan Pablo Montoya
"It was a pretty good day though we struggled in the morning a lot with the set-up. PM was pretty good, though we put the new tyres on a bit late and it started to drizzle so we couldn’t really get a lap on them. I think for the race we should be quite competitive. I don’t think it is a weekend when we are looking to win, but we seem to surprise ourselves sometimes on Saturdays. We will see. Let’s hope it stays dry as with the wet weather it is going to make life a bit more difficult and it may be a bit of a lottery for the race."

Patrick Head, Technical Director
"Certainly we didn’t start the practice that strongly but progressively we have improved the car and some useful homework has been done for the race. We have tried both of the Michelin tyres. The weather is probably going to make the tyre choice quite tricky, but we will now concentrate on setting up the car for good grid positions tomorrow afternoon."

Gerhard Berger, BMW Motorsport Director
"We knew before this circuit wasn’t going to be easy for us as it doesn’t suit our package that well. However, we are working on the balance of the cars so we get a good result. The positive point is we had a one hundred per cent trouble free Friday and Juan Pablo’s time is not showing his true potential. When he was out on new tyres the rain started."